Alejandro Escovedo & The Sensitive Boys--Live from Fairfield Ct.--Punk Energy meets Alt-Country

On April 11 I went to see Alejandro Escovedo live for the 3rd time, at the FTC in Fairfield, Ct.

Pointy toed wonder visits Nutmeg State

In retrospect, I should have gone again the next night there too. I really had a great time. I had hoped he would play a little closer to me, but it was worth the drive. I never saw him perform with a full band before (& the Sensitive Boys), so I was looking forward to this show. The first time I saw him, he played with guitarist David Pulkingham, and the 2nd time he was accompanied by Susan Voelz on violin. Both shows were superb--in particular, the show with Pulkingham was one of my favorite shows I have seen at the Tarrytown Music Hall.

Let me just briefly say that the FTC is a terrific place to see a show. It is a matchbook size venue, not much larger than late lamented Maxwell's was in Hoboken--not one bad seat in the house. It's right in downtown Fairfield near the train station. Plenty of places to eat and hang out nearby.

I got there pretty early and was chatting a little with the woman who was setting up the merch table in the lobby outside the theater. Apparently, there had been some personnel changes in the group. Pulkingham was no longer in the band, and there was also a new drummer. While I was a little disappointed that Pulkingham was no longer involved, as he and Alejandro seemed to have a real synchronicity together on stage, I have been around the block enough to know that change can make things interesting.

Once again the show was fantastic. The combination of Alejandro's music and the intimacy of the venue (I was about ten feet from the stage), made the show more like a party than a concert. He had the whole place singing along and dancing, a crowd composed of mostly greybeards and large people from Texas. I didn't realize it but there seems to be a real Austin vs Houston thing going, as was evidenced in Escovedo's preemptive remarks for his song "Bottom of the World". But it seemed as though no Texans seemed to mind that night.

While the previous shows were rather quietly intense and emotional, this concert rocked quite hard. In fact, when he performed the song "Arizona" he apologized for creating a buzzkill, well, because its a very sad song, kind of about him almost dying a little over ten years ago. While I don't have other full band shows to compare it to, I have to believe that this new lineup may be injecting some new vitality into the band. This was a simple four piece, not the gigantic band I saw him with on Austin City Limits. But the new guitarist, Johnny Sanchez, is without a doubt a true gunslinger, who played with a lot of fire. My take is that I don't think he has been in the band for too long and maybe the on-stage timing is still a work in progress, but it in no way detracted from the performance.



While most fans probably acknowledge him as an Alt-Country performer first and foremost, Alejandro was letting his his punk rock roots that night. By the second song of the night the band was in full throttle, with a rip-roaring version of Tender Heart, from Street Songs of Love. Alejandro was pumped up--it seemed like he Sanchez were picking up energy from each other. Throughout the night when they were riffing out together, their postures on stage kept reminding me of the Clash on the cover of London Calling, rather than sensitive singer song-writing fare.

I can't emphasize how much people need to get out and see him live. I won't name names, but somebody who obviously has seen a few of his shows mentioned to me that Alejandro is much better live than on record. I agree, with the caveat that his albums are great, in particular his most recent four. It is only by comparison. He really is one of our best modern American songwriters and a great live act. He seems to tour constantly so he probably is coming to your area soon.

The warm-up artist was Amy Cook, a singer-songwriter who I think is also from Austin, Texas. She was pretty entertaining. I would idiosyncratically describe her as Stevie Nicks singing Billy Bragg songs, only not the political ones. I guess I'm saying that she sings with a lot of heart, on stage being herself and not a poor imitation so somebody else. I thought she was a real talent.

Toward the end Alejandro and the band performed a few choice covers, which gave Sanchez a chance to show Fairfieldites his chops. Alejandro and Johnny traded leads on their version of Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane". I'm not always thrilled about things like this, but I thought it was a lot of fun. They also performed Mott the Hoople's classic "All the Young Dudes" perhaps in homage to the young blood in his revamped lineup, and that was also a blast. He must have been really influenced by Mott, as I had the privilege of seeing him duet with Ian Hunter on "I wish I was your Mother" at Tarrytown a few years ago.

So go see Alejandro while you can. He said he was working on a new album with Chuck Prophet, so expect more great music soon. And always support great venues like the FTC, because without our support, the Arts wither and die on the vine. Every town should be so lucky as to have a spot like this!